Nazanin Soghrati

With every stride,I saw a little more of the sunriseTurning from fragile pink to tingy turmeric orange

To galaxy blue.With every movement of my limbs—Every bend of my knee, every swing of my arms—I saw more of that golden orb rising through the sky

Like Helios reaching his crescendo as he drove his chariot into sun-soaked roads.

I watched,Wide-eyed,

The mountains that were sewed onto the skyJagged and dispersed on the landscape

Like the careless scribbles of a child onto fresh notebook paper.

I divedNose firstThen earsThen lips

Into the colours pouring out in front of meBlood dripping onto the soft-white cloudsOrange flooding the mountains.I took a breath—My lungs bloatingThe air squeezing my chest,Tightening,Just on the verge of bursting—And I felt so undeniably,So fullyalive.

Nazanin Soghrati is a high school student living in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Outside of creative writing, she enjoys playing the piano, solving jigsaw puzzles, and chronically overthinking things.